The Hadley Property Group has been granted planning permission by Bromley Council to demolish the Blenheim Centre in Penge and replace it with a massive, super dense housing development which includes a 16 storey tower block.
The process by which the application was approved (by Bromley’s Development Control Committe on 5 March 2024, and by the GLA on 16 December 2024) was questionable, unfair and defies all logic.
In particular, there was a strong objection by the London Fire Brigade who stated, in effect, that the proposed tower blocks are likely to be inherently unsafe: They stated that:
Whilst we note that transitional arrangements will apply, it is the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC)’s position, as stated in the December 2022 NFCC ‘Single Staircases Policy Position Statement’ that all residential buildings over 18m or seven storeys in height should be provided with multiple staircases. We therefore do not see this as deferring to the spirit of the guidance used and doesn’t ethically justify this decision.
In the light of the Grenfell disaster, we are gravely concerned that Bromley Council and the GLA may have approved a potential death trap. To view the LFBs 9 point objection, click here.
The plans were approved despite over 1200 objections being made.
The GLA approval was granted, despite multiple breaches of planning guidelines and serious concerns over fire safety which have not been addressed.
To view the nonsensical GLA ‘justification’ for their decision, click here.
We need to take action NOW: The introduction of one tower block estate could lead to more being built – Penge could easily become another Croydon style hell hole.
There are only three possible legal avenues available to stop the development:
- Judicial review. This is a long, complex, and costly process (around £100K) which is unlikely to succeed, or
- Right to light. Several properties, including all of Colman House will be in perpetual darkness if the towers are built. Leaseholders have rights under the Right to Light Act (1959) to take legal action to prevent the construction of the towers. The cost of a lighting survey and any subsequent application for an injunction would be around £5-7k, which means that this option if feasible from a financial perspective.
- Appealing to the Secretary of State to call in the development.
The guidelines for this are that the issue has to be of national importance. It is unlikely (but not impossible) that this could conform to the guidelines. For more information click here.
The Stop Hadley campaign will be investigating crowd funding options and liaising with affected households.
If we do nothing, our high street could soon look like this:.
And eventually this:
